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Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2013 - July 2013 Book of the Month

Roald Dahl Funny Prize shortlisted author Mark Lowery paints a hilarious picture of the catalogue of catastrophes that befall Michael Swarbrick – again! After the disasters that befall him in Socks Are Not Enough, he thinks things just can’t get worse. But they can! This time they involve pants - so the stakes are very high!

Synopsis

Pants Are Everything by Mark Lowery

Michael Swarbrick's pathetic existence had just got better. He was on a date with the girl of his dreams - a romantic donkey ride on the beach, followed by some daring skinny dipping in the sea. Delightful! Only...things never really get better for Michael, and one small moment of bliss ends with him a) getting arrested, b) becoming local celebrity and c) becoming an internet sensation BECAUSE TEY THINK HE'S A NUDIST. (He isn't.) Michael is swept up in a sequence of uncontrollable events that will RUIN HIS LIFE. Again.

This is the hilarious sequel to the acclaimed debut novel Socks Are Not Enough which won the Leeds Children's Book Award and was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012.

About the Author

The youngest of four children, Mark Lowery was born in North Wales in 1979 and grew up in Preston, Lancs. Although he maintains that his upper body is of average size, many people have suggested that he has an unusually large head and stumpy legs.

His lifelong dream of playing for Everton was cruelly shattered at 18, when he realised that he was actually useless at football. Following this bombshell, he trained to become a primary school teacher. He denies that this was only so that he could be taller than the majority of people in his workplace.

Following a few years of teaching in Leeds, he studied for an MA in Writing for Children at the University of Winchester. After graduating he taught at schools in Ipswich and Italy, whilst writing in his spare time. He currently works part-time at a school in Cambridge. His claims that he is “the staff-room eye-candy” have been strenuously ridiculed by all those who work alongside him.

Mark is a fluent speaker of terrible Italian. He enjoys playing the guitar, football, swimming, snowboarding, reading and running around. However, as a father of two small humans, he has recently put some of these interests on hold in favour of nappy-changing and baby-entertaining. He has a real-life girlfriend who definitely exists, and his favourite meal is steak pie, mash and beans.

Socks Are Not Enough is his first novel. It deals with what Mark considers to be two of the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century – parental nudity and custard cream addiction. It is his sincere hope that this book will in some way reach out to the sufferers of these terrible afflictions.

Pants Are Everything, Mark’s second book, is published July 2013, published by Scholastic Children’s Books.